How to Conquer Procrastination, Overcome Fear, and Achieve Your Dreams

You have wild dreams in your head of being an A-list blogger, who is able to put out epic content on command, with a huge and loyal audience of fans and customers who will eagerly pay you for your work.

And so you sit down to write.

But there’s a problem. You’ve read sites like Think Traffic, which insist that in order to make it online you have to produce Epic Content on a regular basis.

And you don’t think your ideas are epic enough.

So you procrastinate.

You have a dozen false starts, but can’t seem to come up with anything epic enough to meet your own standards. You give yourself a mental lashing, thinking that you should be able to do better. You do some Internet research, looking for the magic bullet that will turn you into an epic writer. Or you take a walk out in the nice summer sun, hoping for inspiration to strike you from on high.

You do anything besides actually writing that damn blog post.

We Are All Born With One Basic Desire

We want to make a difference. We want to fight for a cause. We want to change lives and inspire people. This is a basic part of the human psyche.

We want to matter. We want to leave a legacy for future generations.

This is why stories are so fascinating to us. The Hero slays the dragon and rescues the princess.

The rogue is actually a noble hero at heart, he just hasn’t realized it yet.

The ugly old hag is actually a beautiful enchantress.

The frog is really a prince, waiting for true love to break the curse.

These stories matter to us, because they speak to hidden truths. They speak to the reality of the human condition. We can deny it all we want, but the truth is, we all need a hero. We need an epic quest and a cause worth fighting for.

But Fear Holds Us Back

Whoever your hero is, you judge your work against theirs. But when you feel that your work doesn’t measure up you hold back. You don’t write that post. You procrastinate.

Your stick with the status quo, because that’s what is comfortable.

You don’t put your best work out there, because you don’t think your best work is good enough. You are afraid of being judged and found lacking.

You think that if you put out sub-par work, you will forever ruin your reputation and your chances of ever getting noticed.

You think you have to produce at the level of a master craftsman, even though you are just getting started.

The Secret to Overcoming Fear

Do you want to know the secret? You just have to get started.

You are the hero, you just don’t realize it yet. And the hero always has to go through a journey before he learns what he’s truly made of. Or she, if you prefer.

But first, the hero has to decide whether to accept the quest, or just huddle in fear waiting for the world to fall apart.

And during the quest, the hero is going to make some mistakes. There will be botched battles and the hero will only barely escape tragedy. He will make a bad decision that holds the quest back.

But he keeps going, and eventually the hero emerges and the enemy is defeated.

If you want to be a top blogger with a loyal following, you’re going to have to pay your dues. You have to go on a journey and you have to be willing to make mistakes.

Before you can write 1000 words of epic content you first need to create tens or hundreds of thousands of words of content that is just good enough. But if you judge yourself too harshly you will never give yourself the chance to get there.

So write that post. Make it the best you can at your current level. Publish it.

Then do it again, and again, and again. Do it on your own blog. Do it with guests posts and magazine article pitches. Just find the courage to fail, however many times it takes.

Eventually, you will hit your stride. You will find your voice. You will find the audience that appreciates your work.